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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Now Dotel is murder on right-handers, but struggles against lefties. So La Russa is setting himself up for a multiple-pitcher inning, no matter how Dotel fared against right-handers Andrew McCutchen and Derek Lee. Dotel got McCutchen, but walked Lee. Lefty Marc Rzepczynski was brought in to face switch-hitting Ryan Doumit. Like Dotel, Rzepczynski has a big platoon split (.491 OPS against lefties, .717 against righties). Doumit doubled into the right-field corner to tie the score.

Some, however, believe that saves are an overvalued, overhyped stat that has created a class of wealthy relievers, pitchers who maybe wouldn’t have been as successful had they been starting pitchers.

...But one study, by Dave Smith of the website retrosheet.org, shows that winning percentages for teams carrying a lead into the ninth inning have not changed much over the years, including in one-run games. In other words, using a closer has ...

When they designed and built Great American Ball Park, they had no idea they were building a comedy stage.

But they did. And the place is a joke. Balls fly out GABP like exploding atoms. They probably need a humidor here, too, like the one in which they place baseballs before games at Colorado’s Coors Field.

...SO NOW THE Reds have a league-leading 169 home runs. What good does it do? They are in third place and they are one loss or one Milwaukee ...

A red-faced Bud Selig called the Mets on Sunday night, the commissioner of baseball irate that the organization had thrown his office “under the bus” in divulging MLB was responsible for the decision that banned players from wearing caps honoring emergency services workers during the 9/11 game at Citi Field.

“[Selig] got embarrassed by it,” a Mets official said before last night’s 3-2 loss to the Nationals. “The game got moved into prime time because of 9/11, and [MLB] ended up getting ...

And we built some narratives around it. Felix became a big-game pitcher. He became a guy who reached back for something extra whenever he went up against pinstripes. He became the Evil Empire’s worst enemy, an ace for whom they just didn’t have an answer.

Well, Felix might still be a big-game pitcher. I think he is still a big-game pitcher. And he might still reach back for something extra whenever he goes up against pinstripes. But ...

Brewers general manager Doug Melvin noted there are many caveats to the presumption that his club can only beat bad teams. First of all, there are only six winning records among the 16 NL clubs, meaning you’re likely to be playing a losing team much of the time.

“So, there’s only five other teams because we’re one of them,” said Melvin. “The other (first-place) teams are doing the same thing. We’ve won the games you have to win.”

James R. McAleer, manager of the Washington American League baseball team, has gone to Youngstown, O., to complete financial arrangements that will enable him to close the deal for the Boston American league team at his conference with Owner John I. Taylor in Boston, next Thursday.

...

Everything has been arranged for the transfer from Mr. Taylor to Manager McAleer excepting the minor details, it was said here today.

Detroit routed the White Sox for the second time in eight days on Monday, beating Chicago, 14-4, to extend its winning streak to 10 games and its division lead to a season-best 11 1/2 over both the White Sox and Indians. The 10-game run, which started with a three-game sweep of the White Sox in Detroit, is the team’s longest since an 11-game streak from Sept. 9-21, 1968.

“I don’t even think about stuff like that,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “That’s nice to read in the newspaper and for ...

Needing a high-octane performance in their pursuit of the Rangers in the American League West race, the Angels had trouble getting in gear on Monday night. Southpaw Gio Gonzalez frustrated them for 6 2/3 innings, and the A’s hammered out a 6-3 decision that pushed the Angels to three games behind idle Texas.

Attempting to rebound from their just-completed road trip, the Braves returned to Turner Field on Monday night and extended their recent woes with a 5-4, 12-inning loss to the Marlins. Mike Stanton came off the bench to deliver the decisive blow with a single off Cristhian Martinez.

Former World Series MVP Manny Ramirez was arrested by Weston police Monday on one charge of domestic battery.

His wife Juliana Ramirez told police she and her husband were both on the couple’s bed when he struck her with an open hand during an escalated domestic dispute, according to a police report by Officer Jose Campos.

The blow caused her to hit her head on the headboard of their bed, she told police.

Ben Zobrist drove in three runs and Jeff Niemann rebounded from consecutive poor outings with a strong 7 2/3 innings as the Tampa Bay Rays continued their winning ways with a 5-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Monday.

B.J. Upton walked twice and hit two doubles in his first four at-bats, extending his streak of reaching base in consecutive plate appearances to nine, establishing ...

Monday, September 12, 2011

I wouldn’t want people to use WAR lazily, to put any emphasis on a two tenths of a point difference, to just blindly follow. But, to be blunt about it, I really don’t think that’s much of a problem. People who go to the effort to use WAR, to understand it, generally seem to know that it’s a tool, like all statistics. It’s adaptable. You can use your own defensive observations pretty easily, just as an example. And it will get better. It will get more precise. Even now ...

Or as F.U. Barnald points out…“All these first initial pitchers end up sucking like A.J. Burnett”.

And on the ‘cons’ side, we have the fact that he has only two years of full-time starting experience (which, again, may be a virtue in his case, since that has helped depress the number of innings put on his arm), some conjecture about him possibly rubbing some of his teammates the wrong way, a few supposedly-controversial-but-not-really quotes about the fans and atmospheres in other cities, and ...

Gathright was acquired from the independent league Yuma Scorpions on Aug. 31 and assigned to Triple-A Pawtucket. Gathright was 3-for-8 with a walk and a steal in four games for the PawSox before the playoffs. The 30-year-old last ...

Left-hander Jeremy Affeldt’s season came to an end Thursday at a backyard barbecue, of all places, when he punctured his right hand with a knife while trying to separate frozen hamburger patties, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.

Affeldt’s wound was so deep that he suffered nerve damage and had to undergo surgery to repair it.

“I should have used hot water,” Affeldt said in a phone interview with a pool reporter from The Associated Press. “If I had used a butter knife, nothing would have ...

“I think had they gone to the World Series and won the World Series, there would be no movie there for me. I think it’s, you know, a perfect world as it happened,” he said, continuing, “I was not interested in the convention or the trope of the big victory, of the bright and fast burn of the ultimate triumph of them winning the game, and the excitement and just that ephemeral catharsis. This is ...

Burnett already has 23 wild pitches this year, which puts him on a historic pace. Since 1901, only five pitchers have finished a season with more than 23 wild pitches, led by Red Ames’s 30 for the Giants in 1905. Since World War I, only three players have surpassed Burnett’s wild pitch total.

Burnett’s entire career has been marred by wild pitches. In the first 12 seasons ...

Around baseball, there’s a belief Ricketts might hit a home run, possibly even persuading Epstein to leave the Red Sox after nine seasons and two World Series parades. It’s easy to see the downside with an organization that last won it all in 1908, but the perception outside Chicago is different.

“People in baseball talk about it like it’s the Holy Grail right now,’’ one major league executive said. “You have a chance to break a curse that’s longer than the one the Red Sox ended. You can ...

Pitcher [Joe] Hovlik, occupying a berth opposite [Joe] Benz, awoke at 8 o’clock in the morning and immediately tapped the other Joe on the shoulder. Rousing him from his dreams, a ghastly expression on his face, Benz chirped: “What are you taking me out for; ain’t I pitching good ball?”

Intent on transacting as much business as possible before dealing with Albert Pujols looming free agency, the Cardinals have reached agreement with 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter on a two-year contract extension worth about $21 million, according to sources familiar with the situation.

The club intends to announce the deal later this week after finalizing formalities associated with the deal.
...
The extension rolls the clubs $15 million option on Carpenter for 2012 into a ...

Major League Baseball denied the New York Mets’ request to wear baseball caps Sunday night honoring New York City emergency service departments for their game against the Chicago Cubs on the 10th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Joe Torre, MLB’s executive vice president for baseball operations, told The Associated Press the decision was made to keep policy consistent throughout baseball and that “certainly, it’s not a lack of respect.”

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Speculation about general manager Neal Huntington’s job security can now be put to rest, as the Pirates announced on Sunday that Huntington has signed a three-year extension to remain in Pittsburgh. The contract also includes a club option for 2015.

Huntington’s previous contract was set to expire at the end of this season.

“I’m very excited to be able to continue to build what we have been working so hard on for the last four years,” Huntington said. “We’re on the right path. [Things] may be ...

Desperately needing to sweep the Red Sox to have any chance at reaching the postseason, the Rays did exactly what the doctor ordered, coming away with a 9-1 win Sunday afternoon at Tropicana Field to complete the weekend sweep.

The Rays (81-64) entered the weekend 6 1/2 games behind the American League Wild-Card leading Red Sox (85-61), and after three ...

The Cards took advantage of an uncharacteristically shaky Tim Hudson en route to a 6-3 win over the Braves on Sunday, completing a three-game sweep of Wild Card-leading Atlanta. Yadier Molina’s three-run double highlighted a five-run third inning against Atlanta’s ace, and the homestanding Redbirds held on from there.

The win pulled the Cardinals within 4 1/2 games of the Braves, who ...